Courtship for Pride
by Prose Vanity
Summary: It was a battle of prides, and Natsume Hyuuga was not about to lose. The plan? Make Mikan Sakura fall for him and swallow her pride. Ruka had warned him, he should have seen and heeded the signs, but he didn't - now he finds his plans backfire on him. NxM
1. Prides Alike

**DISCLAIMER **GA is not mine, and neither is Death Note.

**Ashy-note** Found this on my laptop, figured I'd upload it. Sorry if I haven't been updating but I'm having too much fun. :D

* * *

**Courtship for Pride  
**Prose Vanity

-/-

One**  
Prides Alike**

Her fists came slamming down the mahogany table; he flinched, imagining the pain she'd be in after that horrible punch, but she barely flicked an eyelash.

"What do you mean I'm gone from the school publication?" she said, her eyes narrowing. He gulped down several breaths, his breath fogging up his glasses, making it impossible to see the fuming 16-year-old. He wiped sweat from his upper lip and fought to get the words out.

"Mi—Mikan-san," he began, wondering how on earth he was going to make it understood with an irrational teenage girl completely controlled by hormones and such other body functions that render her incorrigibly stubborn as a mule. "You have to understand, it was done on Jinno-sensei's orders."

"Iinchou!" she screamed, tugging at the ends of her long brunette hair. He guzzled, looking around asking for help. "You know I need this! You know I do! My scholarship depends on everything about this publication!"

She was pleading.

This was not going to be fair to him, now.

"Mikan-chan, there's nothing I could do," he tried to explain futilely. "You broke school rules. You punched a student in the face! No matter what I can't let you back into the organization. It's the teachers' orders."

She scoffed, crossing her hands. She glared through her amber orbs at the poor guy while struggling to keep her emotions in check. "Yuu Tobita," she started, "if punching Natsume Hyuuga in the face is a crime, then what about pulling down a poor girl's skirt? What about throwing her stuff in the trash bin every chance he got? Don't tell me those are permitted inside this school."

"Mikan—"

She _tsk_ed. "Oh, wait, I forgot," she cut through him, rubbing the bridge of her bone-straight nose, "this school is run by those insufferable freaks, so they can do anything they want, can't they? Right. Of course they can do anything and everything they want."

"Mikan, don't do this, don't play with my feelings for you," pleaded Yuu. "We're great friends, best friends even, but even you could understand my situation. You know I can't do anything about it."

"Oh, Iinchou. Just…shut up and _stop_, okay? I might shower you with nasty curses and I don't really want to do that."

With a sour note of finality she left the room, taking good care to slam the door shut behind her, chocolate hair waving madly at him from behind her tall frame.

Yuu brushed his brow with his sleeve and breathed out. Mikan had so much raging hormones inside of her it was sometimes hard to keep up with her mood but lately these neurotic tendencies seemed to grow increasingly pronounced.

He knew the reason behind that, of course. After all, no one can induce such a reaction from her calm, collected self, other than her male counterpart and forever-arch-nemesis.

He was trying hard to cope up with the situation when suddenly a voice from behind him said, "Thanks, Tobita-san. That helps."

Yuu rolled his eyes at the blonde boy now approaching him fast from the windows of the publication office. He eyed the boy with so much disapproval so unlikely to be caught of him, but he can't help it; _why_ did this boy have to give in to Hyuuga's every wish and want?

He turned to face away from the boy, pretending to look for something in his file cabinet when in truth he was really only keeping his temper in check, lest he lashes out at one of the principal students of the academy, rich or not rich. "Ruka, why do you do even put up with this? Seriously, it wasn't worth her rant, was it?"

The boy stepped out of the shadows and he looked at Yuu apologetically. "You know why, Yuu. I can't help it, he's just like that. Besides, I can tell this will be one of the greatest stories ever told inside this academy. Trust me. He always has his reasons."

He smiled an angelic smile and left.

"Whatever. Greatest story my _ass_," Yuu mumbled, a headache threatening to burgeon in his already-preoccupied temple. It was uncommon for him to curse but times like these called for desperate measures, because this six-year spat thing? It was getting ridiculous and _seriously_ out of hand.

Honestly he never thought it would be so hard to be the middle ground of Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuuga until two days ago. But that was because he never even really _thought_ things would come as far as dismissal orders.

He knew all about the Hyuuga-Sakura back story, of course, with Mikan being one of his best friends and him being the editor-in-chief of the school's weekly publication. He knew all the _juicy_ stuff, so to speak, and so he knew how they had been for the past six years. Thing is, at sixteen you'd think they've all grown up, but that just wasn't the case. The two were still as immature as ever, so unconditionally tenacious (for want of a better word) and unreasonable.

They acted like a bunch of ten-year-old kids fighting over crayons and whatnot.

Frankly speaking it was getting tiring and annoying already, having to put up with their quarrels (or war would have to sound better). There had been a fat good lot of them already enough to fill the school yearbook. The committee was even going so far as to calling it the Hyuuga-Sakura timeline.

Oh, and when it's _lots, _it definitely meant thousands.

Things popped into Yuu's head, excerpts from those thousands of scenes.

Like the time he took of her underwear and flipped it in the air over the canteen crowds… He really didn't _pull_ it off her, like the rumors say he did, he actually took it from her room right after she left for class, and then made the most of what he got. Yuu also knew it was payback for Mikan's little article days before that incident which talked about Natsume and his show of being non-interested in girls and the possibility that he was gay. Of course, if it had been _him_ on the receiving end of that sort of insult he'd get mad, too, so it wasn't really surprising that the entire academy was waiting with bated breath for the great Hyuugan comeback, but none of them were expecting him to take it as far as humiliating her in front of the students by showing off her polka-dotted panty.

Even Ruka thought it was too much, but that's Natsume for you.

There was this one other incident when Hyuuga purposefully made her scream murder when he had proclaimed in the school cafeteria that she was flat chested, again in payback for another one of Mikan's escapades that involved a heavily-damaged Ferrari fresh from England.

Or the part where Mikan tore up Natsume's limited-edition _Naruto_ Collector's Edition manga.

Or the time he slammed the classroom door on her face, causing her to yelp in pain as her body collided with the hard oaken strip of wood.

Or the ball scene when he "accidentally" poured caramel all over her pure white dress.

There was so much more where these stories came from, and to him, it was really getting too much.

It had even become such a habit that the student population watched its episodes like they would a soap opera or a hit TV series. Every week there was something new, something much more amusing than the last. They placed bets on the possible outcomes, squawked at every news flash about Sakura doing this to Hyuuga and vice-versa, and even tried asking the publication to have a column solely dedicated to this pair (which he aggressively refuted) just to stay updated.

They found it fun. He, Yuu Tobita, found it stupid and pointless.

It might sound impossible, but it really is happening, and it has been like it since day one of third grade. Now in their last year of high school, nothing much has changed. Except maybe sometimes it even felt like it was some sort of cat-fight, and the lengths to which these two would go for revenge was just more mind-bending and astonishing than ever before.

There was nothing they wouldn't do for each other.

And that wasn't romantically speaking.

Lately, however, there had been one circumstance which even he deemed to be indeed under the belt low, even for the Hyuuga-Sakura tandem: Mikan punched Natsume for no reason at all.

Admittedly it might be considered a getting-even sort of thing after Natsume's remark of her being a low creature having to live off of an admittedly minuscule allowance, but punching him for no reason at all weeks after the incident seemed unreasonable indeed, especially after Natsume declared to let her live in peace already.

Natsume, of course, didn't take to that too lightly. And being the son of the main patrons of the school, the higher-ups were his lapdogs and were following him around, listening to his beck and call, so when he asked them to knock Mikan off the school publication, the only thing sustaining her education, they did.

It was unfair, of course he knew that, but the system was just so _fucking _screwed up.

It was like Mikan had said—they practically _run_ the school so they get to do whatever they want.

It never really dawned upon Yuu, but now he knew just how much their influence was.

He left the office completely blacked out.

* * *

"Natsume, this is just wrong."

He only shrugged on the sofa while his best friend watched him silently from the window. It was a glorious day outside, but he was currently out of the mood, with his best friend continually nagging him about yesterday's dismissal of his greatest archenemy.

His actions were justified. At least in _his_ opinion he was. "Nothing's wrong with it. She got what she deserved, punching me in the face just like that, when she had no reason to."

Ruka squinted at him. "Technically she _has_ every reason, seeing as you insulted her and degraded her in every way possible," he retorted."Natsume, you called her an impoverished dog and a poor, low creature who has to live off of an allowance equal to your _haircut tip_. That was harsh, even if it was me I'd slap the soul out of you."

Natsume shot him a dark glare which he shook off quite easily, being so used to this rascal treatment after having to live with it for almost thirteen years.

His answer was icy. "I called her exactly what she was and I told her the truth, only without the sweetie-pie treatment she's so used to having. Is it so wrong to wake her up to the reality of her position in this society?"

"That's completely off! There are other ways of getting revenge on her, she just _punched_ you, for crying out loud! You could have simply blocked her examination permit or asked Jinno to make her do chores. Anything else, just not _this_."

The Hyuuga's back stiffened. "Could you possibly be feeling _sorry_ for that hovel of a woman?"

"No, Natsume. I'm being _reasonable_. Unlike you, being so stubborn and immature."

Silence followed words.

He tried one last time.

"Hotaru isn't going to like this, you know," he tried to threaten Natsume. It was his trump card, his ace, his final act, because after all, only she can control this arrogant, bratty best friend of his.

_She_ was Hotaru Imai, Hyuuga's even more sadistic cousin, who was the best friend of Mikan Sakura herself.

The Hyuuga only threw off the comment with another sharp glare at Ruka, who tried hard not to blanch. It seemed his _final act_ didn't quite work its magic the way it used to.

"To the dumps with that woman, having a best friend like that idiot," Natsume said nonchalantly, flipping the pages of his _Death Note_ manga.

It was so hard to make him see sense, Ruka mused. Then he sighed, wondering why he even bothered changing his mind when he knew just _what_ Natsume was when it came to that Sakura.

Still, he had to make him understand the wrongs of his action. Trying for the umpteenth time to talk some sagacity back to his best friend's head, he spoke again only to be interrupted.

"I have had _enough_ of this childish attitude."

The door squealed and in came a furious-looking girl roughly their age. The air seemed awfully disturbed with her presence that even Natsume had stopped reading and listened.

Ruka had to hand it to her, she always had perfect timing. _Trust Imai to know when to act_.

He stole a glance at the beautiful lady framed by the doorway. He had to gulp as he looked at her; the look in her violet eyes was deadly, and it wasn't an understatement at all.

"Hyuuga," she muttered, passing by Ruka after acknowledging him with a nod, "what have you done this time?"

The boy on the sofa merely looked at her before snapping his eyes back to the manga he was so engrossed in reading. Her eyes narrowed.

"_Ahou_. Look at me you, intolerable brat."

Closing his eyes in sheer annoyance, Natsume threw down the manga to his lap and addressed her with a monotonous voice equally colds as hers. "What do you want now, you spoiled Nazi?"

Her eyes flashed violence. "You take back what you had ordered them to do about Mikan. Now."

"Fat chance. Not gonna happen." He returned to his manga.

"It will happen, Hyuuga, but things would be easier if you just agreed now. It would be for your own good, you insufferable half-assed mule."

He glared, but a smirk grazed his lips nonetheless. "Make me, Imai."

She crossed her arms and stop walking. She was now directly in front of him, holding a gun in her hand which was pointed directly at the Hyuuga. "I would have done that already, Hyuuga. I would have, if only I wasn't too damn soft for my own good and I didn't give in to her wishes of _leaving you alone_ about this issue."

That seemed to hit a point in him, and with a small glint of victory in her eyes Ruka watched as Natsume stilled and refocused his eyes on the page he was reading.

He tried to, at least, because in the end he removed his eyes from the scene of Light's triumph over L and scrutinized Hotaru.

"_What_ did you say?"

"You heard me," she bit back, anger emanating from her very core even though her face remained as uncaring as ever, the victorious look gone in an instant. "She told me to _leave you alone._"

That seemed to confuse him a bit. "Why would she say that?" He asked her.

"Does it _look_ like I care, dobe? You're getting on my nerves now, you dolt. That is completely off the point. I want you to _cancel the order of dismissal_. And you _will_ do it. Now."

The tone in her voice was so authoritative it took all of Natsume's guts to even reply a strict "no" to it.

Because honestly speaking it took him by surprise that Mikan Sakura had given up on this one part of their fight. Being the prideful being that she was, she would never let up with this, but now…she was suddenly giving up?

Just like that?

And the answered came to him: she wanted an easy way out. After all, if she just left and gave up, it would inevitably make him the bad guy, having forced her to leave the school.

Which means she wins with giving up.

His face twisted into a scowl. He was _definitely_ not letting up just like that. He would definitely make things harder for her. If she thought it would all be this easy well she was gravely mistaken.

So he agreed. "Fine. Consider it done—on one condition."

Hotaru squinted at him, the gun not wavering nonetheless. "What is it?"

His handsome face broke into a rare, impish smile. "That she let me court her."

Hotaru's face relaxed, but the vigilance never left her eyes. Lowering her gun she turned hotly on her heels and headed for the door, giving the proposition some thought. With one hand on the door knob, she looked back at the gloating boy on the couch. "Fine. Now get those useless guards of yours to stop her car before she runs out of this place entirely." And then she walked out.

Ruka didn't get what Natsume just did. "Natsume?"

"Relax, Ruka," there was a strange glint in his crimson eyes—a sparkle of mischief brewing just underneath his shock of jet-black hair. "I know what I'm doing."

_He, _however, didn't. "_Court_ her? Wouldn't you just ask her to be your girlfriend in an instant?"

He shook his black head, the devilish smile never leaving his eyes albeit his face was rearranged to its usual cold demeanor. "That would be far too easy to do and even easier to refute; she could say no in an instant and everything goes to ashes. No, I'm going to make this hard on her. It would be a lot more interesting if she slowly fell for me, instead."

The blonde still looked confused. "And _why_ would that be the case, exactly?"

Natsume smirked. "Because it'd be the greatest blow to her pride if she fell for her sworn enemy. And once that happens, I win."

Disbelief carved its way to Ruka's face. It was surely one thing to hurt each other, but it seems this was turning more and more into a battle of wit as well as a battle of pride.

Still, everything in Natsume's plan reeked of dangerous.

He couldn't help but laugh at the endless possibilities he saw in his best friend's idea.

"That sounds like a double-edged sword, Natsume. Careful with your plan."

"And why would that be?"

"Well, take it like this: what if it happens the other way around and you fall for her instead? Then you lose at your own game. That wouldn't be a nice thing."

"Right. Like that would happen."

"Oh, I don't know." Ruka had a strange knowing look in his eyes, too. "Anything's possible."

"There are exceptions to every rule. Or adage, for this matter. The whole point of the game is to make her fall for me and get her to accept a defeat, rather than just giving up now."

"Right. Fine. You do that."

Ruka was already on his way to the door when Natsume spoke again.

"Ruka, there is no chance I'll fall for her."

Somehow, he didn't believe his best friend when he said that.

Maybe he told Yuu the right thing. Maybe this indeed was bound to be the greatest story ever told in the history of Sakura and Hyuuga, after all.

Little did he know how right he was.

* * *

_~PV._


	2. Bold Declarations

**Ashy-note** You must be amazed by now that I have so many stories to update. I don't even know how to deal with them anymore, but hey! I'm holding up just fine, (:

Dedicated to **Maria** and **Andy**, as always, and now also to **Ria** - because you, girl, have been so very very good to me. :D

-:|:-

Two  
**Bold Declarations**

* * *

"Natsume, this is probably not a good idea…" Ruka began, anxiously sparing peeks over his shoulder in case he sees the tell-tale signs of an angry girl floundering across hallways to possibly murder his best friend.

Natsume just smirked and looked out the window. "I could hear her footsteps," he said. He couldn't wait for the first step of his elaborate plan of tearing down Mikan Sakura's pride to finally be executed.

Ruka shook his head in defeat. It was hard to make his best friend see sense sometimes.

Actually, when it came to Mikan Sakura, it was _always _hard to make his best friend see sense. Or rather, it was impossible.

Approximately five minutes ago according to his watch, Mikan Sakura's departing convoy of cars was stopped abruptly by the sudden blaring of the radio transmitters, saying that the cars should stop and that the Principal has revoked the original decision of expelling her. He could only imagine what the brunette's face looked like.

"She's here," Natsume said from out of the blue, and sure enough, he was right. Seconds after his, statement the double doors violently opened wide to admit a furious young lady who sauntered into the room directly at Natsume Hyuuga. Arms spread open she approached him with something close to murder on her face, she gave him a salutatory greeting in the form of a hearty slap.

Natsume only took the hit and did nothing in return, which surprised everyone that had seen it, but the look in his crimson eyes was something Ruka had not anticipated—they were, to an ordinary spectator, cold and uncaring, but to him he saw the flicker of surprise and flitting anger. Why, then, did Natsume not do anything against it?

"I don't believe this," muttered Hotaru from beside him. She had her eyebrows furrowed, thinking deeply. "He's actually feeling _guilty_?"

Ruka did a double take at these words, dubious as to its truth, but when he looked again, it was indeed there. There was guilt in Natsume Hyuuga's eyes.

The silence after Mikan's strike seemed to extend into infinity, but just then, she opened her mouth to speak, tears spilling from her hazel eyes.

"I don't _believe_ you," she said through sobs, digging a finger into Natsume's chest. "I'm leaving already, aren't I? You've got your wish. I'm perfectly happy with leaving, thank you very much, so I would really prefer it if you re-ordered your little dismissal, Hyuuga."

Hastily the guilt left his eyes and they were replaced by irritation. Ruka felt amused. His best friend, the actor.

"If I remember correctly, Sakura, you were the one who came barging in on me just last night demanding me to revoke the decision," he said smoothly, indifference slowly filtering through his words; the emotions that had crossed his face a while ago are now completely gone. "I don't see how doing as you asked of me becomes something disadvantageous to you."

Mikan dropped her fists to her sides forcefully in frustration. "That's just it! I've had enough of this squabble, Hyuuga!"

"Squabble?" Natsume's eyebrows perked at her statement. "You call this a squabble, Sakura? I beg to differ—it might just be a war, for all I care about."

A breeze blew in through the window and her long brunette hair whipped around her and hit him squarely in the face—it smelled of jasmines, roses, and something like a citrus scent.

The smell made heat rise up to his head. He had never smelled such a wonderful scent before.

The heat rose fast, and he knew that if he didn't find a way to distract himself he'll be caught in the web of his own making, so making his mind up fast, he turned away and faced the window to look outside, trying futilely to remove the smell from his head and trying instead to concentrate on his first move.

But somehow the smell still managed to squeeze itself to the forefront of his thoughts that he slammed the window closed right after lifting it open. _Why was it so damn enticing_?

Instead of dwelling over the mystifying fact, he focused his thoughts on the outside. The bell had just rung. Students were beginning to flood the grounds, and the Yome Park was beginning to crowd.

_Seems things are going as flawlessly as I could have hoped for,_ he thought in satisfaction. He smiled a little.

The Yome Park was one of the four main parks of Gakuen Alice, each named according to each of the four greatest patrons of the school. It is also the largest park on campus, and so naturally, it was the location of his plan's step one.

_Execute stage one_, he thought to himself glumly, a little smug at the thought.

He had barely noticed the brunette rambling behind him, but he didn't care; what she had to say was inconsequential.

Turning on his heel suddenly, he grabbed her wrists and half-dragged her out their private dorms and in seconds, much to everyone's ultimate shock, he and Mikan were thrown into the light of the sun underneath the huge monument to Suichiro Yome.

"Everything's moving too fast for you now, isn't it, Sakura?" he crooned sweetly, devilishly, at the flushed girl. He worked his arms around her waist and in front of the whole student body, he enveloped Mikan Sakura in an embrace that was all but romantic—to the rest of the students, however, it was a complete _SHOCK._

The gasps that swept the grounds were as audible, as loud, as Mikan's unvoiced scream of horror.

The people began to talk. Here and there students pointed at each other, whispering, some even shouting out loud. The crowd began to throb with energy and yet there the two stood, underneath the sun, unmindful of the attention.

Nor of the fact that their bodies were practically one, as Natsume had drawn Mikan even closer to him; their breaths were practically fanning each other's faces.

Up in the room the two had just left, Hotaru and Ruka watched with thoughtful eyes.

"My, my," said Hotaru from beside Ruka. "I would never have supposed this possible in my entire life."

She took photos every now and then. Ruka only nodded in agreement. "This is going to be an interesting battle," he said to the girl who now crouched in front of the window to get better photos. She murmured her assent.

Straightening up after a reasonably many number of clicks on the shutter, she faced him and with a small smile she nodded. "Highly entertaining and also relatively profitable," she said to a dismayed Ruka.

"Really, Imai, is everything about rabbits to you?" he asked her.

"No, not exactly," she took out the memory card and fished out another one from her pocket. "I'm after the thrill of getting the rabbits."

"What?"

"Nothing you'd be able to comprehend, Nogi, now outta the way."

Somehow, however, whilst Hotaru took pictures, she stood up straight and slowly lowered her camera. She whispered, but loud enough for Ruka to hear. "_Unbelievable_…"

He hastened to her side and saw it for himself.

"Well this is a first," he said, his throat going dry at the scene that he witnessed.

Outside, by the foot of the Yome monument, Natsume Hyuuga did something that he's never done before—he did something that shook the torpor out of every single living soul out of the people who have seen and heard and known and memorized _by heart_ the Hyuuga-Sakura timeline.

Natsume Hyuuga should have seen the danger signs by then, but oh, he did not.

Instead, right outside, for the whole world to see and hear, he declared his courtship of Mikan Sakura—

—and then he placed his lips over hers and drowned them both in the chastest kiss.

* * *

_I know, I know, it's too cliché already, but I really can't get enough of the concept. XD_

_~pV._


	3. Ready, Set, No

**Ashy-note **Haha, thanks to everyone who supported my over-used plotline. And did I ever tell you this will be **another **triangle fic? Yeah, it will be — and guess whooooo! :D (And no, I don't recycle plotlines). XD

Review again, if you'd like to. I'm also thankful to those who reviewed my other three stories (ADFH, THE, HB) and yes, I know this isn't the right place to thank them, but I know some people here are constant readers and reviewers of my works (or if not, of the three fics mentioned) so again: THANK YOU. (:

On to the chapter, ra ra ra! This will be the prologue to the main story, by the way. The story'll revolve around Natsume's several plans on the execution list to make Mikan fall for him. :D

-:|:-

Three  
**Ready, Set, No**

* * *

While the whole school stood and whispered and gossiped, Natsume and Mikan's world stopped. Stopped and froze and completely detached itself from the normal human society.

The kiss was a spur-of-the-moment thing of his mind's creation and at that moment, he didn't really feel like regretting it much…

Her lips were soft and smooth and her breath—damn, that breath drove him to his limits! If the scent of her hair was hard enough to whack away from his brain, well _THIS _— this sensation will definitely linger in his thoughts, probably until the day he dies.

It had been such a gamble for him to give away his first kiss just like that. And he knew it was such a moment worth cursing for life to Mikan to have _her_ first kiss taken away — by him, nonetheless — just like that as well. But despite the huge block of ice that separated their worlds, the fact that he hated her guts and she hated him in general, the idea that they were supposed to loathe each other and that this kiss was just part of his plan, they unconsciously responded to each other.

Or rather, _she_ unconsciously responded to _his_ unconsciously deepening kiss.

Immersed so much in the moment, however, he didn't notice her snap out of it, and in a few seconds he felt a very, _very_ strong force that pressed down on his lips and made him taste blood.

He pulled away from her and she threw him one last look of pure loathing and then stalked off, fists in tight balls. The students pulled out of the moment's trance just as he fixed them all an amused (but still scary) glare and everything suddenly moved back to normal, but he, Natsume Hyuuga, could never get enough of what had just happened. He could swear her face was as red as a tomato, but that wasn't the case, because there was a much more pressing matter at hand to him.

His lower lip throbbed greatly, and when he touched his lip he saw the blood.

He smirked and winced afterwards; his lip gave another strong throb.

Really. Mikan Sakura's fighting spirit was just beyond his comprehension.

* * *

"Hold still, you idiot, or I'll pinch your damn lips and make it bleed again," Hotaru sternly commanded, gently but precisely applying cold compress to the Hyuuga's swollen lower lip.

A snicker emanated from somewhere close to the doors, and when Hotaru shifted over, he saw the image of a laughing Koko.

"Shut up, Yome," he drawled lazily, an act which earned him not-so-gentle presses of the compress from Hotaru; he flinched and protested, but Hotaru just whacked again and said reprimanded him. "I told you to hold still, ahou."

"Dude, I can't believe she bit your lip!" Koko guffawed still. "I mean, she could have just kicked you or slapped you or something, but man! She _bit_ your lip!"

"Yome, say that one more time and I'll tell Shouda all about your photo collection of her since elementary," muttered Natsume viciously under his breath, wincing a little as Hotaru's fluttering hands gently dabbed at his lip wound.

Koko winced at his threat, and mumbled something that sounded like, "Damn Imai cousin…he really is her blood relative."

He and Hotaru both ignored the blonde.

* * *

"So what are your plans about her?" Hotaru suddenly asked, once Koko sidled out the room a few minutes later (to buy lunch). She had finished the cold compress procedure and was now adding the final gel for his bleeding lip.

"Why do you care?" Natsume asked. "If I have plans then I don't think I'd want to tell you."

She dabbed ointment for the last time and he watched her face turn sour. When she straightened up to pick up the medical kit off the table, she fixed him a stony glare that, to any other person, could have frozen him in no time.

"It's my business primarily because you're my cousin, you dwarfhead," she told him. "And for another, she's my _best _friend."

"Which is exactly why I shouldn't tell you my plans." He smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Contingency plans, Imai. I won't be dishing out things for free."

Her mauve eyes narrowed. "What are you implying, you twit? That you're asking me to pay for information?"

He smiled at her cheekily. "Knew you were always quick on the uptake."

"Huh," Hotaru scowled at the lordly boy. "I can better information for free."

"So you're not availing?"

"No. _You_ will be, though, when you start hampering after me to scavenge everything you need to know about her."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

Hotaru started towards the door. "Don't you dare make a fool of her, Hyuuga," she threatened.

He seemed unfazed by the menace in her voice, however, and still replied with a nerve-twitching answer. "Love makes us do the most foolish things, Imai."

Instead of annoying his cousin, however, she merely smiled. "And love is also a double-edged sword, Hyuuga. It's like mudslinging. You can't throw mud without getting them on your hands."

He _tsk_ed. "Why does everyone think I'll fail this plan?"

"Because it _reeks_ of dangerous, Hyuuga."

He ignored the second warning.

When the door closed, his mind was set.

First part of the plan was in motion.

Outside, a truckload of flowers were already being unloaded.

* * *

_Hahahaha. I love you guys! :D_

_~Ash| pV_


End file.
